Japanese Language

Expressing Uncertainty
There are several ways to express uncertainty. "~ darou" is a plain form of "~ deshou," and means "will probably." The adverb "tabun (perhaps)" is sometimes added. Kare wa ashita kuru deshou. Ashita wa hareru darou. Kyou haha wa tabun uchi ni iru deshou.

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He will probably come tomorrow.

It will be sunny tomorrow.

My mother will probably be home today.

"~ darou" or "~deshou" is also used to form a tag question. In this case you usually can tell the meaning from the context. Tsukareta deshou. Kyou wa kyuuryoubi darou. You were tired, weren't you?

Today is a payday, isn't it?

"~ darou ka" or "~ deshou ka" is used when guessing with doubt. "~ kashira" is used only by females. A similar expression used by both genders is "~ kana," though it is informal. These expressions are close to "I wonder ~" in English. Emi wa mou igirisu ni itta no darou ka. Kore ikura kashira. Nobu wa itsu kuru no kana. I wonder if Emi has already gone to England.

I wonder how much this is.

I wonder when Nobu will come.

"~ kamoshirenai" is used to express a sense of probability or doubt. It shows even more uncertainty than "~ darou" or "~ deshou". It is used when you don't know all the facts and are often just guessing. It is similar to the English expression "might be." The formal version of "~ kamoshirenai" is "kamoshiremasen". Ashita wa ame kamoshirenai. Kinyoubi desu kara, kondeiru kamoshiremasen. * Compare these sentences. Kare wa tabun kin-medaru o toru deshou. Kare wa kin-medal o totta no kana. Kare wa kin-medaru o toru kamoshirenai. He will probably get the gold medal. It might rain tomorrow.

Since it is Friday, it might be busy.

I wonder if he got the gold medal.

He might get the gold medal.

The last thing to mention is, "~ darou" or "~ deshou" can't be used when referring to one's own actions, though "~ kamoshirenai" can be used in these situations. Ashita watashi wa Kobe ni iku kamoshirenai. Ashita watashi wa Kobe ni I might go to Kobe tomorrow.

Wrong

Ashita watashi wa Kobe ni iku darou. Ashita ane wa Kobe ni iku darou.

Wrong

My sister will go to Kobe tomorrow.

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